Discussion

Foodie in Venice for 8 nights(Costello neighborhood), need help...

I will be going to Venice in mid November. This will be my first time, and I have no clue where to go for good food(fine dinning/value eating). Any Suggestions in the above mentioned neighborhood??? Also willing to try any area in Venice as well. Foodie in need of help...thanks.

That would be Castello. You should search this board for the umpteen million posts on Venice restaurants, then come back with a short-list of the ones that sound most to your taste and see if people have any news about them. I myself am going to Venice this weekend and have reserved at Da Fiore and will probably also call Al Covo and Al Fontego dei Pescaori and maybe Ca' d'Oro.

mbfant: Unless you have not already done so, please review these restaurants. My own experience after four winter visits: It's hard to find an outstanding meal in Venice. I've found some, but with much luck and big bucks; I've never eaten as well there as in Rome, Naples, Sorento area, Siena, Pisa, even Florence -- another touristy town.

Where in Castello will you be exactly? Its a pretty large sestiere, with a number of different neighborhoods and lot of restaurant alternatives. Be aware that it may be damp and chilly, depending on moon phase, tides wind patern etc you may also experience acqua alta, so come prepared.

As an above poster stated, the sestiere of Castello is large; you could be a two minutes stroll to San Marco or a 30 minute walk if you are on the eastern end of Sant Elena where it is very quiet and residential. With 9 days in Venice, I recommend taking a couple of day trips to nearby cities in the Veneto: Padua, Verona, Treviso, Vicenza are just a few that can be easily reach by train. Even Trieste is an easy day trip and definitely worth it. It can be a welcoming break as well eating some different food. Below are a few earlier links to get you started:http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/6587...http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/6700...http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/6839...As you've probably have read, traditional Venetian cooking is mostly base on simply prepared seafood. Don't expect to be wow by complicated preparations; the cost is mostly for the freshest/ best ingredients and exact preparations. I have never found acqua alta to be a big deal, just an inconvenience and can be fun for a first time visitors. I have to agree, I have never gotten use to the damp and chilly winters, be prepare.

We just got back from Venice a few weeks ago. Couple of rules of thumb to think about for eating in "regular" restaurants, as opposed to "fine dining.". The further away you are from the main tourist areas, (i.e., near the Grand Canal) the better the restaurants. Look for places that do not have a tourist menu posted, and preferably do not have pictures of the food posted. When dining casually in the small shops, eat standing up at the counter, it is traditional, and cheaper than taking a table. Do not be afraid to point and question. In Venice, as in all of Italy, some of our best meals were in places where nobody spoke English and we had to guess, pantomime, and point.

It is also worth your while to travel over to Mestre and go to Restorante da Bepi Venesian (Via Sernagilia, 27, three or four blocks from the Mestre train station) While they often cater to large tour groups, the seafood is fresh, excellent, and the brothers who own the place are a hoot. My wife and I had one of our best meals in Venice there.

It's been about two years since I was in Venice, but the one really memorable meal I had was at al Fontego dei Pescatori. While that's not in the Castello, it's not a long walk either. The owner is a longtime Realto fish market vendor and the menu is mostly, if not entirely seafood (as the name would suggest). We did the tasting menu, which was whatever the chef wanted to prepare, and perhaps it was the copious amount of wine we went through, but we had a terrific time.

One more thing, I wouldn't feel too confined to stay mostly in Castello, the city is such a joy to walk that you can lose track of time. It really doesn't take too long to go from one neighborhood to the next.

Also, you mentioned value dining. Hit as many little wine bars as you can. Many of them have cheap small plates (tapas style) with some really delicious offerings. I have no idea what half the things I ate even were. My wife and I spent an entire day eating exculsively at the wine bars and couldn't have been happier. Oh, I am so jealous of you.